


The Endless Odyssey: To Have Known Some Special

by AnnaCipactli12



Category: Futurama, The Simpsons
Genre: Existential Angst, Existential Crisis, Existentialism, Gen, Introspection, Sad, Tragedy, references to classical mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 18:29:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10622631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaCipactli12/pseuds/AnnaCipactli12
Summary: Homer ponders about the meaning of life and if it is all worth it while his friend remembers him for the man he truly was and is proud to have known someone as special as him.





	

Life is hard. Of that, Homer was certain. There were few things that made Homer think, or made him immensely sad. The gluttonous klutz could always look back at the foolish things he’d done with laughter.

These things happen -he’d say and then have a big heart laugh that was followed by his wife wrapping her thin arms around him. The smell of her perfume was as always intoxicating. This time it was different.

It had been ten years since his mother died. Not a day went by when he didn’t think back to the first time he was reunited with her, only to have her taken from him (yet again).

 _And the one time that she and I could have been happy, I was a mean ungrateful son_. Life was unfair but his mother always had a way of making it seem fair.

 _Why did the universe take you from me, mom?_ Had he not worked hard enough to provide for his family? Was he not a good son?

No, and no, his brain answered. This time he didn’t have the anger to tell him to shut up. Why bother when nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

He continued to stare at the night sky. Sitting on the hood of his car, it only made sense that he’d reflect on everything that had happened since then.

Doctor Hibbert told him he’d have a week to live after his daughter went to Yale. He proved him wrong. Over time he learned to cope with loss via food, alcohol and other things that would blank his mind. But nothing could blank his mind from the immense pain he was feeling at the moment.

Don’t worry Homer, you will always be a part of me.

He waved his hand in the air. Didn’t know why, he just did it _. I wish you were with here, mom. I need you. I can’t do this alone. I just can’t._

Tears streamed past his face. Another shooting star. It was so wonderful and comical. Just like the bad joke that fate was playing on him. If he didn’t know better, it was the same shooting star that fell when he said goodbye to his mother for the first time.

The stars shined bright but some were blinking. He remembered what Lisa told him once, along with Professor Frink: When they do that is because they are about to die or form anew.

 _No, they are dying._ Like his hope. He was dead inside. No longer a funny, jolly oaf. Just a man without a soul, and someone to hug him at night and tell him tomorrow would be a new day and that no matter what, everything would be alright.

He missed her terribly. He thought about going back home but didn’t feel like it. Not surprisingly, he heard the clunky footsteps of his metal friend, Bender.

“It’s okay, buddy. I am here for ya.” Homer didn’t need to turn. Bender knew his sadness. The robot who’d been sent from the future to prevent a major catastrophe had been turned on by Maggie and Marge who were worried that he might try something stupid.

_If I were to become a falling star, would she be the sun I passed while I disintegrate after I finish my long journey? Would I be seen by another lost soul trying to find meaning in this bleak cesspool we call existence?_

He didn’t realize he said it aloud. Bender sighed and swung his metal arm around him then took it off. “I can’t tell you what to think but know this. Everything’s shit, we are all shit but that doesn’t mean we have to think that way. Whenever you are ready, we will go home together.”

Home. It rhymed with Homer. His name. The name of that Greek guy who wrote those two books that talked about tragedy, hopelessness and redemption.

 _Maybe there is a place for me in this universe._ Homer and Bender drove back home. Bender would not be turned off until Lisa was old and about to die.

When he came online again, it was the year 3017. His best friend Fry asked him what made him feel so lucky as he started to behave like after he had been rescued by that crazy Moon hick? Bender gave a genuine smile and told Fry that he was a lucky bastard. He had all the booze, cheap floozies and best friends a robot could ask for.

Fry gave him a thumbs up. Bender was thinking about a man who lived over a thousand years ago, a man who like Fry seemed like a selfish idiot, but who was the opposite. Bender would never tell Fry this, but he had come to consider Homer more of a friend since he and Homer had something in common: They cared deeply -sometimes way too much- for others and they would carry the secret of their sadness to their graves.


End file.
